Sudan’s PCP speaks of a ‘secret’ plan to topple regime
July 22, 2013, (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP) declared that it has embarked on a secret strategic plan to overthrow the regime while a senior official from the umbrella opposition organisation, National Consensus Forces (NCF) stressed that the 100-day plan to topple the regime did not fail.
The PCP’s political secretary Kamal Omer said at a news conference on Monday that the NCF will evaluate the 100-day scheme following the holy month of Ramadan to determine the date of the popular uprising.
He urged the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) to accept the transitional period and underscored that this would be the ideal option for change but cautioned that it will not allow government officials to escape accountability.
Omer also revealed that the PCP leadership meeting, which ended on Saturday, has affirmed its commitment to popular uprising as a tool for overthrowing the government as well as approving the strategic relationship with the NCF.
He noted that the meeting has unanimously renewed confidence in the secretary general, Hassan Al-Turabi, to hold his post until the next political convention and stressed that the PCP will launch a “more compact” secret scheme to topple the regime.
Omer said that the secret scheme was approved by the PCP’s leadership and all branches were commissioned to enforce it and activate the mobilisation committees.
He strongly denied discontent among PCP members with the party’s performance, saying that the leadership meeting emphasised the need to build strong relationships with the NCF and the rebel Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF).
In a separate issue, the opposition Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party’s leadership member, Ali Al-Rayah al-Sanhouri, has denied the failure of the 100-day plan saying that it was not only intended to toppling the regime but also organize the NCF.
According to the pro-government al-Rayaam‘s Monday issue, Al-Sanhouri declared that the NCF will launch another 100-day scheme prior to the end of the current one in order to intensify opposition activities and mobilisation efforts, saying that the NCF can’t fix a date for the regime’s fall.
“If the regime considers the NCF ineffective, it shouldn’t ban its public rallies”, said Sanhouri.
The spokesperson for the NCP, Yassir Youssif, for his part, described the NCF’s 100-day scheme as a “complete failure” and stressed that there were disagreements about it within the NCF factions, and called the opposition to get ready for the upcoming elections in 2015.
He was referring to the opposition National Umma Party (NUP) which distanced itself from the 100-day plan and announced instead its own initiative to change the regime through collecting a million signatures and organising sit-ins in public squares and other places.
Last year, leaders of the NCF signed the Democratic Alternative Charter (DAC) which unequivocally adopts the goal of regime change through “peaceful means” while outlining the basis of how the country should be governed afterward.
The text of the DCA adopts the use of “peaceful mass struggle” in the forms of civil disobedience and popular uprising to topple the regime and then establishes an interim government in which all political forces will be represented to rule the country for three years until a new constitution is installed and elections are held.
(ST)